Uconn

Plenty to work on for Huskies UConn visits Edsall Saturday BY ED DAIGNEAULT Republican-American

Connecticut's Lyle McCombs (43) is tackled by North Carolina State's Thomas Teal, right, as North Carolina State's Dontae Johnson looks on during the first half of their football game in East Hartford, Conn., on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham)

Paul Pasqualoni and his UConn coaching staff hadn't completely finished the film breakdown of Saturday's loss to North Carolina State by the time he called into his early Sunday afternoon teleconference with the media. What he managed to get through showed plenty.

Offensively, it simply wasn't good. It might not have approached mediocre, but Pasqualoni wasn't about to say anything like that.

The 10-7 defeat left many wondering where the UConn offense will go this year. Inside the confines of the Burton Family Football Complex, there were veiled indictments of nearly every piece of the offense.

"A missed block here, a miscommunication in protection there, routes not run with the appropriate depth," Pasqualoni said in assessing what went wrong. "It was not one particular area. From an offensive standpoint, each position had a chance to do something better. Each unit could have done better, which could have resulted in a couple more plays that could have put us in position to win the game."

There was no talk about the play of the defense, which was more than good enough to allow the Huskies to win. Even the one touchdown N.C. State scored came off an NFL-caliber pass from Mike Glennon followed by an NFL-caliber catch by Bryan Underwood.

The game was the first true litmus test for the Huskies and showed what was already suspected: the defense can be outstanding and the offense might spend most of the season being confounding.

The play of the offensive line was the most glaring issue. That group was continually pushed back in pass protection and couldn't get to the second level of its blocking schemes in the run game. Pasqualoni was unwilling Sunday to say any changes would be made up front, but if they do come, they will be announced soon.

Pasqualoni, as he did Saturday, deflected much of the blame away from quarterback Chandler Whitmer. The coach reiterated that Whitmer has to make better decisions when it comes to throwing the ball, but there was a clear intimation Saturday and Sunday that Whitmer needs more time to throw and needs his receivers to be more precise in their route running.

"To be honest with you, I thought ... the receivers as a unit could have been more productive," Pasqualoni said. "It's not just one player. As a unit, we've got to make more plays."

Injury update: Unlike the opener, the Huskies emerged healthy. Defensive end Ted Jennings, who suffered a knee injury against UMass, is unlikely to play this week at Maryland.

Defensive tackle Shamar Stephen, out since early in the preseason, is officially listed as questionable but it sounds as if he's close to playing.

"We're going to evaluate that very, very closely," Pasqualoni said. "I would say right now he's questionable but I'll keep you posted."

No big deal: This will be repeated over and over this week, so might as well get it out into the open now. Pasqualoni said this week's game against Maryland is just another game. The emotion and storylines surrounding playing former UConn coach Randy Edsall, according to Pasqualoni, are nothing more than an angle for the media to take to make things interesting.

He's probably right.

"Getting ready for a game requires so much focus and attention to detail that if we fall into that emotional trap before the game, it will make us less competitive and less prepared," Pasqualoni said. "I'm going to try to explain that to these guys. University of Connecticut players are playing University of Maryland players. The coaches are not going to play one play. I promise you they're not playing. They're not in the game plan."

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